Transferred
by Chrys-DASL
Summary: After a particularly rough field trip experience, Arnold has had enough. His mother decides to move them to Elwood City, and when they arrive, Arnold is placed in Mr. Ratburn's third grade class. But is Mr. Ratburn's class really better than Miss Frizzle's? One-shot.


_Transferred_

_Arthur x Magic School Bus_

_Theme: New School_

Arnold looked up with wide eyes as the tyrannosaurus rex bared its teeth. Arnold tried to scream, but no sound came out. He wondered if this was finally it, the field trip that would take his life. As he debated this, he felt something warm trickle down his leg.

"Miss Frizzle, help!" Wanda cried. Miss Frizzle swooped in, gathering all of the students into the bus in a mere nanosecond. Then, she sent the bus back to its normal time period with one loud cry.

"Wow, that was really close. Are you okay, Arnold?" Phoebe asked.

Arnold was as white as a sheet. But it was his pants they noticed, a giant wet stain covering the front. No one said anything. Arnold almost expected them to laugh, but they knew that a face-to-face encounter with a dinosaur might do that to someone. They left him alone, trying to forget the scary encounter as much as he was.

Miss Frizzle dropped Arnold off at home. His mother was there grabbing some paperwork, and when she heard the bus honk, she wondered if something was wrong. As she looked outside, she saw her son walking up to the house, his pants darker in places than they should be.

"Arnold! Are you alright, honey? Do I need to do anything for you?" she asked quickly. Arnold pushed her away and ran to his room. "Arnold, what happened? Please, at least tell me that."

"Field trip," Arnold called back, rushing into his room and slamming the door behind him.

"Field trip? What field trip? I didn't sign anything," she said firmly, knocking on his bedroom door. Soft cries came from the other side. "Arnold, are you sure you're okay? I mean, I guess I could be overreacting, but I've never seen you like this."

"Like what? I wet myself in a bad moment. No one laughed at me, but they could have. I hate that school. I've told you we go too many places. You never listened to me," Arnold cried.

His mother sighed, "Well, that won't matter. My boss is opening a new branch in Elwood City. I was going to turn him down because I thought we had something good here, but I see now that we don't. You'll move with me, and you'll start school there. If it's worse, we'll come back. My boss might not be happy, but it's you I'm worried about. You're my son, Arnold, and I love you."

There was no response for a moment. Arnold's mother wondered if she'd been too motherly, but then she heard him: "Mom, let's do it."

The condo complex was bigger than Arnold expected. He carried a box of his most prized possessions inside, setting them in an upstairs room that overlooked the entire complex. A boy his age was watching from across the compound as the moving truck finally arrived. The moving would be up to them now, so Arnold's mother let him go see his new neighbor.

As he walked up, he could see the boy was eating. It was in a bowl, whatever it was, and Arnold could smell that it was a mixture of something; he just didn't know what.

"Hi, I'm Arnold," he said. The boy nodded and finished chewing, "I'm Buster. Mom said a new family was coming. Welcome to Elwood City. Want some?" he asked, extending the bowl. Arnold tried to withhold a grimace and shook his head. Buster shrugged, "More for me. Come inside. I'll show you my vegetable collection."

Arnold followed him inside, wondering what exactly this vegetable collection would be. As he entered the upstairs room, another boy was reading a comic book at a desk. Buster introduced him as his best friend, Arthur. He then showed him several odd-shaped vegetables. Considering what was in the bowl, these strange items were much more interesting to Arnold, and he didn't have to fain interest. Buster was happy and kept up the conversation.

"So, what class are you going to be in for school?" Buster asked after sitting on his bed. "We're third graders in Mr. Ratburn's class."

"Well, I guess that makes three of us. What's Mr. Ratburn like? Does he ever take you on field trips?" Arnold asked.

Buster laughed, "Our last field trip was a month ago, probably more than that. He likes book work: Lots of reading and tons of pop quizzes."

Arthur nodded, "Yep, if you ever think Ratburn isn't going to quiz you, read anyway. He's _always_ going to quiz you, without fail. And expect lots of projects. That's why I'm here."

"Arthur and I have oral reports due tomorrow. Mine is on Benjamin Franklin. His is on Alexander Hamilton," Buster grinned. "I've got a recipe that Ben Franklin liked to eat that I'm going to bring for the class. Hopefully I can make a B on it."

"You need an A," Arthur muttered.

"Projects and pop quizzes? That doesn't sound too bad compared to my last school. We were always going on scary field trips, pretty much every day of the year," Arnold said. Buster gasped, "You went on scary field trips? Wow, we only get boring ones to the museum or something."

Arthur shook his head, "They're not all boring, but most of them are. We have one scheduled in December for the state capital to hear the senate people speak or something. We'll start that unit after we learn about the Revolutionary period."

"A boring field trip," Arnold smiled. "Believe me, after all I've been through, I'm looking forward to it."

And Arnold was. After settling in at home, he prepared himself for what Mr. Ratburn must be like. He must be a normal teacher; the kids just didn't know how good they had it. So he gave pop quizzes and oral reports. At least he didn't get them eaten by dinosaurs or lost in the circulatory system of a fellow classmate.

The next morning, he entered Mr. Ratburn's class for the first time. Arnold took a seat next to Arthur as the oral reports began. A girl named Muffy went to the front of the room with a complex diagram. Arnold wondered what exactly she was explaining, then she went on for ten minutes about the lineage of the Adams family, starting with the grandparents of John Adams and moving to the sons and daughters of John Quincy Adams.

Yet somehow, Mr. Ratburn didn't seem impressed. He kept his head down, jotting down notes. Arnold gulped. Was Muffy's project even worthy in his eyes?

"Thank you, Muffy. Fern?" Mr. Ratburn said with a dull tone when Muffy was done. Arnold was floored. Weren't these kids doing enough? Their props looked wonderful, and a few people were even in costume. Wasn't that enough for him?

When the others had been called, Arnold wondered what would be next. Then, he heard his name. He looked up to see that Mr. Ratburn was still at his desk jotting notes, but he was looking up in Arnold's direction.

"Arnold, I was hoping you could tell us what you know about this time in American history. Do you mind coming to the front of the room?" Mr. Ratburn asked.

Arnold froze. This was day one, and already he was being called on for information, information he surely didn't know. He went to the front, stammering and shaking as he tried to remember the facts Miss Frizzle taught him. Nothing came to mind. All he could see was that t-rex looking at him like he was the most appetizing lunch in the history of food-

And then it happened. The warm sensation covered his front, and Arnold felt himself turn red. He ran from the room, but unsure where to go, he ended up between two sets of lockers and underneath a water fountain.

Buster went after him. When he found him, he smiled sympathetically, "Mr. Ratburn is known to have that affect on people. Come on, I have a spare pair of shorts in my locker. They're for gym, but they should fit. And I just washed them last night, so you're in luck."

"Why does no one care when I do something that embarrassing? I just had that happen at my last school. I thought they were pretending to be nice because I always wimp out on field trips, but maybe they weren't pretending. Maybe they really did feel bad for me," Arnold cried.

"Well, why did you? I take it was one of those scary field trips," Buster guessed. Arnold nodded and told him about the incident. Buster stopped in his tracks, "Your teacher...took you back in time...and you got to _run from **DINOSAURS?**_!" he cried. Arnold nodded. Buster cried out, "Please, _please_ tell me where you came from! I'll take your spot! I'll go on those field trips with you!"

"No," Arnold said. "I...I think I want to go back. I mean, Mr. Ratburn is probably a nice guy, but if he can do to me what a t-rex did, I don't think I'm in the right place. You're nice though, and...I'll tell Miss Frizzle about you. Maybe you and the others can come along one day."

"That'd be awesome!" Buster cried, handing him his shorts. Arnold accepted them and sat through the rest of his day, but he didn't return to Lakewood Elementary. Instead, he went home, and he kept his promise. Miss Frizzle took Mr. Ratburn and the others on an underwater adventure in a local lake. Muffy was offended; she'd gotten her hair wet and the water smelled awful. Brain and Dorthy Anne got into a factual argument that three people had to break up.

But Buster? He was thrilled, and he wondered if he could move here and join the class. His mother said no, leaving Buster stuck at Lakewood with the others. But in the end, he didn't mind it. They knew Mr. Ratburn and knew how to handle him. Arnold and the others knew how to handle Miss Frizzle, most of the time. They were better where they were, but they all remained friends and wrote each other often.

~End

-Theme from my Infinite Theme List challenge. PM me if you'd like information.

-I haven't watched Magic School Bus in a while and I feel like Arnold's voice is a little off. But I enjoyed writing this and I might do some more Magic School Bus one-shots in the future.


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